Thanks for Helping to Translate the Missal into Icelandic Thursday, July 18, 2013

Success Story

Forty years ago, work first begun on preparing a Missal in the Icelandic language. Now, in the Year of Faith, it has finally been possible to print this book, thanks to the financial support of ACN’s benefactors. In fact, Bishop Pierre Bürcher has already personally handed Pope Francis a copy of this book.

There are approximately 10,000 or so Catholics living on the island of Iceland, accounting for just 3.3% of the total population. The good news, however, is that the number of Catholics here has tripled within the last 10 years. There are now 10 times as many baptisms as burials and each year somewhere between 5 and 20 adults are baptized during the Easter Vigil. The number of Catholics is also increasing as a result of immigration, above all from Poland and the Philippines.

Bishop Pierre, who comes originally from Switzerland, remarks, "Previously, when I was still living in Switzerland, I myself did not think that the Catholic Church in Iceland needed any help. But that was in fact a mistake. In reality we cannot survive as Church without help from abroad. We are extremely grateful to ACN."

The Church in Iceland needs outside help because there are so few Catholics in the country and because they live so thinly scattered across the island. Many of them tend to be immigrants who have very little money themselves, and the State makes only a symbolic contribution to the Church. As a result, ACN gave four grants of $13,000 each over the years in order to make this translation project possible. Now, local Catholics can finally read the Missal in Icelandic.

A heartfelt thank you to all our benefactors!

This now completed project is an example of our work. If you would like to support a similar project, then please indicate the reference code below when making your donation. Thank you.